George Dixon Biography

James Baldwin “Sonny’s Blues” and “Battle Royal” Ralph Ellison are two stories by young african american men in the 50’s. Racial abuse was in abundance during this era. In both stories race has an important role however, in “Battle Royal” Ellison used race as the driving force of the story. In “Sonny’s Blues” Baldwin uses race as an important theme but is subtle as opposed to Ellison who directly addresses race as the issue. “Sonny’s Blues” and “Battle Royal” depicted the suffering of young black men in harlem, and illustrated the struggle of generation past and present; and the vicious cycle of the stereotype of african americans. African americans during this time endured in environment of hatred, but not only by whites but also by themselves, they hated who they were because they weren't white, in order for a person to be accepted in society or seen as valuable african americans believed they had to be white.

Millions of people worldwide take part as spectators to the sport of prize fighting: better known as boxing. In a 1962 essay entitled “Who Killed Benny Paret?” the author, Norman Cousins, writes about the dangers that come with the sport of boxing. He especially talks about a match that resulted in the death of a boxer named Benny Paret. Cousins argues that boxing is just a show of violence and that boxers put themselves in the ring just for the simple purpose of entertaining a crowd. Even though investigations reflect the role of the referee, Paret’s manager, and the doctor’s examinations as the main cause of Paret’s death, Cousins blames Paret’s death on the people that attends boxing matches to see a man get hurt or knockout because he

Manny learns his first lesson through hierarchy and racism. Manny watched a boxing match between a Mexican and a black boy, and it is extremely racially intense. At the end of the chapter Manny had to take off Lencho’s gloves because nobody else would do it for him. Manny said, “They said that he brought embarrassment to them, and worse, caused a loss of unity between them and their black brothers.” (139)

Boxing, an official sanctioned sport in the early 20th century, is a sport that is known as one of the most violent and physically demanding sports on the earth. Professional boxers that get paid to fight must be in top shape in order to preform at the highest level. Being a professional boxer is a tough life. Boxers train hard for many months leading up to one fight and either win, lose, knock out the opponent or even get knocked out. The sport has been around for centuries, but has most recently taken off over the last 100 years. It is a multibillion dollar industry with fighters taking home hundreds of thousands of dollars if not even millions of dollars for big matches. In his novel Papa Jack, Roberts tells the story of the famous African American boxer Jack Johnson. He details the boxers rise to fame and fortune and his downward spiral that would soon follow. In Papa Jack, Roberts displays life of a professional boxer through firsthand accounts with events that happened during Johnson’s life and shows how boxing not only influenced his life but also how he influenced the African American community.

amounts of money presented major obstacles, Jack Johnson tells the story himself in his autobiography “My Life and Battles,” finally moved up in rankings and eventually became the Colored Heavyweight champion in 1903, by defeating “Denver” Ed Martin February 3, 1903. (Jack Johnson 36-38, Roberts 28-29). Meanwhile, the heavyweight champion at this time was James Jeffries, who would continue the racist tradition of keeping the title within the White race by refusing to fight any boxer of color. (Roberts 17-19). Subsequent white champions also drew the color line, until after more than three years of stalking the new champion Tommy Burns around the world, Johnson finally received his opportunity to capture the Heavyweight crown. (Johnson 68). Memorable and historic, on December 26, 1908 Johnson easily pummeled Burns, mercifully the fight was stopped in the fourteenth round by policemen, and the filming of the fight was ordered to be stopped fearful of exposing the myth of White supremacy throughout the globe. (Runstedtler 56-62). Of larger concern that the film would encourage the Black community to seek equality in other societal matters the government banned the transport of fight films across state lines. The impetus to censure Johnson’s victory led to a government regulation of the content of all films as noted in the article, Fighting films: race, morality, and the governing of cinema, 1912-1915. (Lee Grieveson, Farr131-34). Triumphal, Jack Johnson had enduringly achieved

His life came to an unfortunate end on June 10, 1946 when he died in an automobile accident in Raleigh, North Carolina, at the age of 68. Jack Johnson arguably the best heavyweight of his generation. He started boxing at a young age. He won his first title in 1903 and won the world heavy weight title seven years later. He later fled the country from breaking the law of marrying a white woman. After a car crash his life came to an end but his legacy lived on and he became a figure of blacks in sports and in Black

Johnson was not the first ever black boxer. While there was some black involvement in the sport, there was not much viewing interest coming from the black population. Up until 1908 white boxers refused to fight black opponents. Ironic how tunes change to the cha-ching of dollar signs. The beginning of the twentieth century saw a decline in boxing popularity and Sam Fitzpatrick capitalized on it. He decided that there was no time like the present for change. He set up a match between champion Tommy Burns and this unbeatable negro. Burns thought this would be an easy way to line his pockets with cash, so he agreed.

The author, Randy Roberts in his article “Jack Johnson wins the Heavyweight Championship” sheds light on the fight of Jack Johnson with Tommy Burns, he highlights the racial attitude in the twentieth century. Roberts opens his article by mentioning about the concerned whites, as the author proceeds, according to the whites it was a tragic and saddest day of their lives as the race won. While Dixie was agitated, firstly because of the Booker T. Washington dined at the White House and secondly was the victory of Jack Johnson. However, the blacks rejoiced all over the United States with this news. Roberts mentions about a journalist report, it stated that the genuine satisfaction the blacks experienced with the single victory of Johnson was not been observed in forty years.

James Burke, also known as James Burke or the Deaf Un, was born December 8, 1809, in England. He was born with deafness (He can’t hear). He grew up living in a very poor family. His mother and father died when he was at a very young, so he really had no parents to help him with his boxing career. He worked on the River Thames as a waterman, before he had started his actual career. He started boxing professionally in 1828. Five years later, on May 30th he fought Simon Byrne (the Irish champion) for the World Heavyweight championship and won, the fight had lasted a total of three hours and six minutes, but the previous WHC (World Heavyweight Champion), Jem Ward,

Born in Galveston on March 31,1878 to Henry and Tiny Johnson was the worlds first African American heavy weight champion of the world, Arthur (Jack) Johnson.

Elliott J. Gorn’s The Manly Art is a unique book that tells readers the origins of boxing in American culture. The book was published in 1986 by Cornell University Press, the book discussed the development of boxing and American society. Gorn takes sport history, a commonly misunderstood and misinterpreted topic and wrote a book that not only was easy to read but allowed readers to gain knowledge on the sport. Gorn says “To understand prize fighting, I have discovered, is necessarily to understand something about nineteenth-century America. Ideology, ethnicity, social class formation, violence, urbanization, gender roles, religious world views, productive relationships, all are a part of sports history in general and boxing in particular.” (Gorn, pg. 12)

When he was young, many people tried to stop him from boxing, but Robinson did not listen to them. When Robinson started fighting top-tier boxers, many people started doubting him and thought he wouldn’t make it. He overcame this and fought to the top. I loved it because it was an inspirational story. It explained how he grew up from living in poverty in Detroit, to making millions and being known from all over the world. In the book Shropshire said, “Robinson dreamed of being a champ, but most black men of the day were simply striving to make life better” (Shropshire 24). This shows how he was discriminated against for being an African American and couldn’t get the privileges he wanted. Despite the racial discrimination against him, he set out to follow his dreams. He was introduced to boxing when he was 7 years old, and he started boxing by 1936 when he was 15. By the time he was 19, he had a professional record. He retired in 1952, only to come back three years later and regain his title. By the time he died from diabetes, he had a record of 128-1-2. He had the best record of anyone in the league.

A fellow fighter is said to have “whimpered like a dog over his crushed hand (179).” The brutal action of undergoing a battle royal has the unseen indication that the cigar-smoking whites wanted to take the human out of the blacks and

Johnson followed Jeffries from town to town. “Jeffries, however, refused to fight a black boxer and instead decided to retire undefeated.”(Unforgivable Blackness). The Championship was handed over to a white named Tommy Burns, who as well declined to fight Johnson but eventually gave in at the cost of thirty thousand dollars. In the year 1908, Johnson knocked out Burns in the sixteenth round, to win the title and create history. “He was a fast and brilliant defensive boxer who fought at a time when white champions like John L. Sullivan and James Jeffries refused to fight black fighters. Jeffries retired rather than face Johnson, but he returned six years later when the clamor for a great white hope could not be ignored”(Sandomir D3). Even James Jefferies was beaten and and thus, Johnson had beat all that stood in his way, from bottom to the top. Through perseverance and relentlessness, Johnson had achieved his dream.

The “Fight of the Century” between Floyd Mayweather, Jr. and Manny Pacquiao shared similarities with the Fight of Last Century between Jack Johnson and Jim Jeffries in terms of grandeur and publicity. The fight between Johnson and Jeffries was painted on a background of racism and is viewed as a key event in the struggle against white supremacy. However, with the U.S. striving to eliminate racism, Mayweather vs. Pacquiao was not centered on racial conflict. Nonetheless, the fight on May 2, 2015 contained ingredients of social justice issues. “Mayweather is Jack Johnson without a redeeming side. Johnson, despite a polarizing persona, at least inspired pride among black folk. Mayweather's violent history with women renders him a hip O.J. Simpson,